FREDERICKSBURG – The Commonwealth Transportation Board awarded a contract this week worth approximately $31.1 million to Branch Highways Inc.of Roanoke to design and construct a reversible extension of 95 Express Lanes at the southern terminus in Stafford County.
“This project is part of a major effort to unlock gridlock in Northern Virginia,” said Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne. “This project has been accelerated and will provide much needed relief to ease the bottle-neck at the southern end of the I-95 Express Lanes.”
Virginia Department of Transportation Commissioner Charlie Kilpatrick added, “The extension will help to reduce traffic delays in the northbound main lanes during the morning peak travel period and southbound Express Lanes traffic in the afternoon peak. The extension will also improve safety by reducing vehicle merging and weaving to enter and exit the lanes.”
The approximate 2.5 mile extension will carry traffic beyond the flyover ramp where 95 Express Lanes currently end, just north of Exit 143 at Route 610 (Garrisonville Road).
When the project is complete:
Northbound traffic in the main lanes will be able to enter 95 Express Lanes earlier at a new left entrance south of the Garrisonville Road overpass. The existing left entrance north of Garrisonville Road will remain.
Southbound Express Lanes traffic heading to the Fredericksburg area and south will be able to continue past Garrisonville and merge about one mile south of Garrisonville Road.
Construction will begin in summer 2016. The southbound ramp is scheduled to open in late 2017 to early 2018, and the northbound ramp will open in summer 2018.
Express lanes will also be extended on I-395 northbound.
By 2021, there will be an 84-mile Express Lanes network that moves more people with fewer vehicles, using all modes of transportation, throughout Northern Virginia. This will include extensions to the existing Express Lanes and improvements to I-66.
For more information, please visit the project page at www.VirginiaDOT.org:
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